Rivercess County: Clinic Serving Over 2,000 People In Ruins

Gbloseo Town, River Cess –Situated 45 kilometers away from Cess City, the capital of Rivercess County, is a dilapidated sky blue and white building housing the only clinic providing health care service for over 2,000 people.

The roof is falling off, causing intense leakage that leaves the ceilings and walls in deplorable states. The wooden doors and windows are also eroding off their frames.

It’s a clinic forgotten in a county with looming health challenges.

Health workers are constrained to stay away from the building but would have to rush back if there’s an emergency.

“When it is raining, we have to stand in the water to treat the patients,” said Charles Toby, a nurse aide. “This whole building needs to be rehabilitated.”

The only room without leakage is serving three purposes: laboratory, storage, and short-stay inpatient room. The single sheet-less old bed finds a space in the corner of the congested room, giving new mothers a rest after delivery.

And there is an empty dispensary, which has not received supply in a long time.

Patients often return from the clinic complaining about the lack of drugs. They claimed they would have to buy from drug stores.

Emmanuel Toby, the dispenser, said it has been months since the last consignment arrived from the county health team.

“We have been out of drugs since April,” he said pointing to empty containers and cartoons on the shelves. “In July, we received little drugs from the county health team, but that did not last for a week.”

Mercy Gonsen, the Officer In Charge (OIC) of the clinic, said almost all cases are transferred because of the “unbearable situation”.

As Gonson outlined the challenges to a LocalVoicesLiberia reporter, an injured man was rushed to the clinic – a tree branch had hit the man.

Unable to treat him, Gonsen quickly asked the family to take the man to the main referral hospital in Cesstos City.

Amos Tamba, the district health officer, said the county health team is aware of the building’s condition, but did not say what is being done to rehabilitate the clinic.

Clinicians at the facility said district representative Byron Zahnwea has made several stops at the facility, but he’s yet to respond to their many requests.

Zahnwea served as county health officer for Rivercess before his election as a lawmaker in 2014.